Iraq gives sharp focus to PM's trip to Europe

2.45pm

The war in Iraq and its aftermath have given sharp diplomatic focus to Prime Minister Helen Clark's European visit next month.

The Prime Minister is to visit Brussels, London and Paris on a trip that will allow her to see first-hand the vast international chasms that have opened over how to handle Iraq.

Invasion of Iraq by the United States and Britain has split the European Union, Nato and the United Nations, clouding the future of the UN Security Council.

Helen Clark told NZPA her visit at the end of April was "timely" as Europe ruminated on international rifts.

She will visit British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac, who has lashed "the American and English belligerence".

Britain was angry that UN Security Council member France threatened to veto any resolution permitting force to be used against Iraq.

New Zealand would voice the same concerns to both sides of the diplomatic conflict, Helen Clark said.

"The issues are the same; where do we go from here in trying to restore the UN's authority? Where does the EU go after cataclysmic split?" she said.

"There will be the issue of how to restore the authority of the UN Security Council.

"Two countries with the veto walked away from the process, so that's very disturbing.

"And really, apart from the issue of how you put Iraq back together, the other big fall-out from this is what it's done to the UN, Nato, and the European Union."

New Zealand had "very considerable interest" in how the EU developed, so how Iraq affected it had profound implications for this country, she said.

New Zealand has opposed war against Iraq, pledging support for international efforts to help its people when the conflict ended.

It believed that the inspection process to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction had been making good headway.

France, Germany and Russia lined up in recent weeks to oppose war in Iraq and threaten to veto any UN resolution that automatically authorised the use of force.

In Brussels, the Prime Minister planned to meet European Commission President Romano Prodi.

Mr Prodi has deplored the divisions as relationships in the EU have turned icy after one of the most damaging rifts in its history.

He has urged EU leaders to speak with one voice and do more for their own defence to be less dependent on Washington.

Britain, which committed 45,000 troops to the Iraq campaign, has accused France of scuppering diplomacy by threatening to veto any Security Council resolution on the conflict.

Helen Clark also planned to meet Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt in Brussels, and Queen Elizabeth in London.

She said yesterday New Zealand may add to the $3.3 million it has pledged already to a clean-up of Iraq.

New Zealand would consider boosting the emergency humanitarian relief announced last week once it saw the post-war needs of Iraq.

"We've put the $3.3 million up obviously but there are other things we could do and we are really waiting to see what platform emerges for doing that," she said.

"There could be more money, once we see what the needs are."

New Zealand was also pressing hard for the UN to play an important pro-active role at the end of the conflict, she said.

- NZPA

Herald Feature: Iraq